


Pressed Seams

by predilection



Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Epilogue, I love them and I just want them to be happy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 06:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18493057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: Moments of Parado and Emu's lives after the ending of Ex-Aid.





	Pressed Seams

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a "five times Parado wears different clothing and one time he wears Emu's clothing" fic but then it turned into a kind of epilogue for Parado and Emu. 
> 
> (Content warning for sexual harassment, though note it's a short scene and this is, overall, a fluffy fic.)

**01**

When Hiiro enters the CR office, Emu is raising his hands in a placating gesture as he tells Poppy and Parado, "It's going to be okay. The Ministry is going to side in your favor."

Poppy and Parado seem unconvinced. Poppy rings her hands together while Parado paces from one end of the office to the other. "And if they don't?" he asks.

"They will," Emu says confidently. "They definitely will."

Hiiro checks his watch. They have ten minutes before officials from the Ministry of Health arrive to conduct their evaluations. He knows that Poppy and Parado will be assessed on how well they can blend in with society, and that they will be judged in many different areas, so as he takes a seat at the table, he offers, "You may want to go in looking more..." He frowns. "Human."

Poppy perks up at that. "You think so, Hiiro?"

He nods and she shares a look with Emu.

"It can't hurt," he tells her.

She shouts, "Costume change!" and does a little spin, and then she's in her Asuna Karino form wearing her pink nurse's uniform.

Emu offers her a smile and turns to Parado. "You should change too."

Parado looks down at himself. He's wearing his standard attire: a high-collared black jacket with USB cords sticking out of it, a blue and grey t-shirt with an uneven hem, and bright purple pants with a pixelated pattern on them. "I already look human," he says and Hiiro can hear defensiveness in his tone.

"I just meant your clothes," Emu says. "And only for this meeting."

Parado sighs but between one blink and the next, he's wearing a perfectly tailored black suit with a royal blue dress shirt underneath. The outfit accentuates his height and the slope of his shoulders and, surprisingly, he cuts quite the figure. In fact, he looks like he walked off a page of a fashion magazine.

Hiiro wonders how he came up with this look, but then he notices Parado's black shoes which are almost an exact replica of the ones Hiiro's currently wearing. He's modifying things he's seen.

Emu is obviously also surprised by the sight of him. His eyes go wide and his jaw drops a little.

"Will this work?" Parado asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

Emu blinks like he's coming out of a daze and licks his lips to moisten them. "Yeah," he says. "You look... good."

Some of the tension visibly falls from Parado's shoulders as he takes in Emu's reaction, and Hiiro raises an eyebrow at their strange behavior.

Poppy bounces over to Parado then, grabbing his arm and pulling him so that the two of them are facing Hiiro. "What do you think, Hiiro?" she asks.

He looks them over. They still look like themselves despite the lack of neon colors, and he's fairly sure they'll pass whatever image assessment the Ministry will throw at them. "It will suffice," he says.

"Let's get this over with," Parado says, sighing, but he seems less anxious than he was when Hiiro arrived. 

Poppy claps her hands together determinedly, clearing feeling more confident as well, but Hiiro's attention is drawn, instead, to the way Emu is still standing at Parado's side and openly staring at him like he's noticing something for the first time.

 

**02**

They receive the verdict that same afternoon: both Poppy and Parado pass their evaluations. They're given stipends to live off of, as well as identification that will allow them to live human lives.

It's only a few weeks afterwards that both of them secure apartments for themselves, and it's strange for Hiiro to come into the CR office and not see Poppy's DoReMiFa Beat console in the alcove in the corner. She's studying to be a doctor now, taking university courses that the Ministry helped arrange for her.

He doesn't know much about what Parado is up to, though that changes one afternoon when Emu asks him if he wants to go get crepes after his shift. "There's a cafe near where Parado works that's supposed to be good."

"Parado has a job?" he asks. He expected Parado to play video games in his apartment all day, especially since the Ministry's stipend was generous and gave him more than enough to live on.

Emu laughs. "I was going to pay him a visit later. You can come too if you want."

His curiosity has him agreeing, and thankfully, the cafe does make good crepes, which makes Hiiro feel less uncomfortable about spending time with Emu now that they no longer have any official business to attend to. He listens quietly as Emu chats about pediatrics and about a new video game he and Parado have apparently been playing together. 

Afterwards, he lets Emu lead him into a nearby plaza. Hiiro eyes the shops they pass and try as he might, he can't picture Parado selling clothing or food. He's having trouble imagining what kind of job Parado could possibly have until Emu stops in front of a Pokemon Center and gestures for Hiiro to follow him inside. 

Hiiro is wary as they enter the overly colorful and crowded store, and it doesn't help when Emu gets distracted by a wall of plushies leaving Hiiro stand around awkwardly. He walks up an aisle wondering why he agreed to this when he spots a familiar head of hair.

Parado is wearing a light pink polo shirt adorned with a pokeball and black pants -- the staff uniform for the store -- and he's talking to a little girl and who he assumes is her mom. He's crouching so he's closer to eye level with the girl as he holds up two different pikachu plushies. Even from a distance, Hiiro can tell that he's carefully explaining the features they both have and Hiiro's taken by how he doesn't look out of place selling merchandise here. He expected him to, he realizes.

Emu comes to stand next to him. There's a small, fond smile on his face as he watches Parado's interaction with the little girl. "He's really good with kids," Emu says.

Hiiro would've never guessed that either, but Hiiro supposes that it makes sense. Emu loves children, after all.

"Was this your idea?" Hiiro asks.

Emu shakes his head. "Parado applied on his own. I think Poppy helped him."

Parado waves goodbye to the girl and her mom and gets to his feet. He spots them then, and as he makes his way over to them, Hiiro can't help but notice the way Emu's face lights up and splits into a wide grin.

 

**03**

Parado is sitting alone at a table in the hospital courtyard when Hiiro passes by on his way to visit his favorite bakery on his lunch break. He's dressed casually, wearing black jeans and a purple t-shirt featuring the pixelated pattern of his usual pants. Hiiro wonders what he's doing there and that's when he notices that Parado has a knapsack with him. It strikes Hiiro as odd. He doesn't think he's ever seen Parado carry anything other than his handheld console before. 

When Hiiro returns later with a box of pastries nestled into a white paper bag, he's just in time to see Emu drop down into the chair across from Parado. Emu slumps against the back of it, clearly exhausted, as Parado pulls two bento boxes out of the knapsack, handing one to Emu. 

They're homemade. Hiiro recognizes the garish purple and green boxes from Emu's lunches at the CR office. 

Emu perks up at the sight of them and Parado says something that makes Emu laugh as he hands him chopsticks. Then they're pulling off the lids of the boxes and Parado is pointing with his chopsticks at something in Emu's box like he's explaining what it is or how it was made.

Hiiro's eyebrows furrow as he watches the scene unfold. It isn't until a child starts crying behind him that he realizes that he's been staring at them for quite some time.

 

**04**

Hiiro happens to be in pediatrics a few weeks later to discuss surgery details with one of his patient's physicians. After his meeting finishes, he wonders if Emu is in his office. He doesn't make a habit of visiting Emu, but he heads in his direction instead of heading straight back to the surgical ward.

The halls are deserted by the offices so he has a clear view of a doctor leaving Emu's office at the other end of the hall. This doctor seems familiar and it's only when they start walking towards him and Hiiro gets a good look at them that Hiiro freezes.

It's Parado. He's wearing dark purple jeans and his blue and grey t-shirt under the standard Seito University Hospital lab coat. He even has a Seito lanyard and an official-looking ID badge pinned to him.

"Hey," he says, spotting Hiiro. "You here to see Emu?"

"What are you doing?" Hiiro demands, keeping his voice down despite the fact that there's no one around. "You can't just go around impersonating a doctor!" 

Parado blinks at him for a moment and then snorts. "Your dad gave me this coat," he says. "The Ministry made me a special consultant for a project they're doing on game syndrome." He taps his ID badge, drawing Hiiro's attention to it. 

It does say that he's an employee of the Ministry, but it also says his name is "Parado Karino" which makes Hiiro raise an eyebrow at him. "You took Poppy's last name?" 

"It seemed fitting and..." He smiles. "She wanted us to be siblings."

Hiiro hadn't known that.

"Anyway, Emu's in his office if you wanted to speak to him." He points his thumb behind him. "I gotta run though. I have work."

As he walks past Hiiro, Hiiro grabs his arm. "Wait."

Parado stills.

"What's this game syndrome project you're working on?" It's been months since the last known infection was treated and Hiiro hasn't heard anything about new projects.

"It's going to be announced in a few weeks. I saw your name on it too. Your dad will probably fill you in." Parado shrugs out of his hold. "Later," he says, continuing on his way, but as Hiiro watches his retreating back, he still has a question. 

"If it hasn't started yet, then why were you here today?" 

Parado looks back over his shoulder and grins. "To visit Emu. Why else?"

 

**05**

The dinner party is a boring affair. The mansion the hospital rented out for it is filled with the highest levels of the hospital's administration and its board of directors as well as their most generous donors and cooperate partners.

Hiiro is here because of his status as the top surgeon in the country and because he's his father's son. As the likely heir to the hospital, these are all people he's going to have to work with one day and, even if he hates events like these, his father stresses the importance of building these connections early.

Emu was invited by the Ministry, which is why he's even here at all, hiding with Hiiro in a corner of the main dining room, nursing his wine, and looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. He's wearing something other than jeans and a t-shirt, but his black dress pants and white button-up shirt, the sleeves of which he has pushed up to his elbows, don't suit him at all. 

When a donor comes up to them and engages Hiiro in conversation about the future direction of the hospital, Emu excuses himself and Hiiro watches him make his way to the bar. The donor wants to introduce him to someone else, so Hiiro is pulled into another room. He plays along for exactly ten minutes before making an excuse to be elsewhere. 

He finds an empty sitting room on the ground floor and kills time staring out a window into the gardens. That's the only reason he witnesses it when Parado suddenly materializes between the greenery and starts running towards the building.

Instinct has Hiiro running too, meeting him by the back doors. Parado grabs a hold of Hiiro the second he's inside, his hands tight on Hiiro's biceps. "Where's Emu?"

Hiiro feels a chill go down his spine. "He was at the bar last I saw him," he tells him and leads the way. It's as they're taking the stairs two at a time that Hiiro asks, "What's going on?"

"Emu's furious," Parado says and then a split-second later, his typical outfit has been replaced by black dress pants paired with a dark red dress shirt, the top buttons of which are undone revealing the tips of his collarbones.

It turns out that Parado doesn't need Hiiro to guide him. At the top of the stairs, he heads for a hallway off the dining room. He doesn't run, but he walks quickly, ignoring the few people shooting curious looks their way. 

Hiiro follows Parado to a library with tall ceilings and walls lined with old-looking books. It's empty save for Emu and a man Hiiro recognizes as a donor his father talks about sometimes. Emu's back is ramrod straight as he stands facing the man, his hands in fists at his sides. Parado comes to halt just inside the doorway and pulls Hiiro to a stop next to him.

"A pretty little thing like you is just begging for it," the donor is saying, obviously intoxicated. "Just look at your mouth." He leans forward into Emu's space but when he reaches for Emu's face, Emu beats his hand away. 

Emu's expression is stormy and he looks like all he wants to do is punch the donor in the face or at least yell at him loudly. Hiiro wonders why he doesn't and then he remembers where they are and that this particular donor is the sponsor of the new lab they're building for pediatrics.

"Come on," the donor says, and as he reaches out to touch Emu again, Parado crosses the room to them. In one graceful movement, he has an arm slung over Emu's shoulders.

"There you are," he says. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Parado?" 

"Sorry I was late," Parado says and he surprises Hiiro when he leans in to press a kiss to Emu's temple.

The man is scowling at the two of them, and Parado looks over at him like he isn't worth the dirt on the bottom of his shoes. "You got a problem, buddy?"

The donor's teeth are bared and it looks like he's about to say something unpleasant. Hiiro takes a step forward, ready to intervene as well, and that draws the donor's attention to him. Hiiro stands up a little taller, his arms crossed over his chest, and stares him down. Some of the anger in the donor's expression is replaced by shock as he recognizes Hiiro, and thankfully instead of opening his mouth again, he decides to storm past Hiiro and into the hall. 

Hiiro narrows his eyes and watches him go. He's contemplating how he can have him barred from the hospital, perhaps by replacing his donation to pediatrics with another one he knows the hospital is set to receive, but he's brought back to the present when Parado says Emu's name. Hiiro turns back towards them just as Emu sighs in relief and sags against Parado's side.

Parado curls around him, pulling him into an embrace. He runs one of his hands down Emu's back and he presses another kiss to Emu's temple as if to sooth him.

It's then that it hits Hiiro that what he's been witness to wasn't simply a ploy to make the man leave. His heartbeat picks up as multiple different moments he's observed over the past few months suddenly snap together like puzzle pieces, and he turns away from them to hide the way his eyes have gone wide.

 

**+01**

As Parado predicted, Hiiro is part of the Ministry's new project on game syndrome. It's a project that focuses not on the virus itself, but on its impacts on the mental health of both its patients and the country at large.

He's not surprised to learn that it was Emu's idea. He is surprised, though, when Emu is absent from the briefing Hiiro attends with the board of directors. He finds out later that Emu was sent home earlier in the day because he was exhibiting flu-like symptoms and because he could barely stand.

His father tells him this as he hands Hiiro a folder full of papers that he needs Emu to sign. He asks Hiiro to send their driver to Emu's apartment, but Hiiro decides to take the papers himself after his shift ends.

When Emu answers neither his door nor his phone, Hiiro only hesitates for a moment before texting Parado. Parado sends him an address, and soon it's Parado's apartment door he's knocking on. Parado answers it wearing a long-sleeved green sweatshirt displaying the numbers "01" on the front in yellow -- a copy of one of Emu's shirts -- over his usual pants, and he ushers Hiiro inside.

The kitchen and living room are one big, open room, and even from the entryway, there are signs that Emu lives here too. More than one pair of Emu's shoes are lined up neatly by door, medical textbooks fill a shelf in the living room, and there are two controllers extending from under the television to the couch. Also, one of the pokemon plushies Emu was eyeing at the Pokemon Center is on a table by the window.

There's a short hallway on Hiiro's right, and down it is an open doorway through which Hiiro can make out Emu sleeping on his back on a large bed. A towel is resting on his forehead.

"How is he?" Hiiro asks.

Parado runs a hand through his hair, looking tired. "His fever finally broke so he should be over the worst of it." 

Hiiro nods and holds out the folder. "The director needs these signed tonight."

Parado sighs, but he takes the folder from him and goes into the bedroom. He's gentle when he rouses Emu and he's a steady presence at Emu's side as he helps him sit up. Despite his obvious fatigue, Emu smiles up at him, his affection for Parado plain on his face. 

It feels intrusive to be watching them now that he no longer has any reason to find their behavior curious so Hiiro turns away to face the wall. He's also suddenly keenly aware that while they haven't tried to hide this from him, they haven't exactly trusted him with it either. He's just happened to be in the right places at the right times to figure it out.

He keeps his eyes averted until Parado returns with the folder. "Is there anything else?" Parado asks, handing it over to him.

There would be, he thinks, if they were anyone else -- if it wasn't so obvious that they were happy -- but he's made it a point not to pry unnecessarily into other people's lives.

Hiiro shakes his head. "No," he says and leaves them be.


End file.
